history. >> chuck hagel and the battle for the pentagon. >> the good news is, for the verse time in many years, republicans and democrats seem ready to tackle this problem together. >> the immigration problem. has somebody been reading exit polls? >> too many children are dying. too many children. >> also, the fight over gonds. >> law-abiding gun owners will not accept the blame for acts of violence or deranged criminals. >> the word on hillary in 2016. will she or won't she? >> i have no plans to run. >> thursday was not a good day for chuck hagel, president obama's tourist to be his next defense secretary. his old friend and fellow vietnam veteran john mccain jump all over hagel for opposing the surge in iraq. >> were you correct or incorrect when you said the search would be the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since vietnam? correct or incorrect? yes or no? are you going to answer the question, senator hagel? the question is, were you right or wrong? i would like to answer whether you were right or wrong. and you are free to elaborate. >> i am not going to give y

. >> they quoted a pentagon official sang, "it really scares the hell out of me." doesn't scare you? >> it scares me if it goes on for a long period you cannot get to be them without no sense of responsibility. the president is leading, but he's not leading in the direction that he wants. he is leading to blame the republicans, which i suspect he will succeed in because as "the new york times" said, it is a suicide dive down they will get blamed. the only answer is to get together and obama thinks he has them on the ropes and republicans cannot seem to get themselves together. >> we just heard dr. paul say it was the president's idea. wasn't it? >> who cares? it's a bad idea on both sides. it's the blame game. it is the president's responsibility far more than anyone else, particularly a second term president who just won reelection. it's his responsibility to rise above this nonsense. he's not doing it. >> ought to show you something. this was a cover during the mid- 1990's and the speaker of the house complained that he had to exit air force one by the rear door, but that's not th

pentagon budget, plus a minimum 30% tax on million- dollar incomes. republicans are expected to oppose the measure because of the tax increase. house speaker john boehner said the burden is on president obama to break the deadlock. >> the sequester, i don't like it and no one should like it, but the sequester is there because the president insisted that it be there. where is the president's plan to replace the sequester that he insisted upon? >> sreenivasan: white house officials warned that letting the across-the-board cuts take effect would be disastrous. for his part, the president traveled to decatur, georgia, selling his plan to make pre- school available to all four- year-olds. standing before a group of teachers, he joked that what works with pre-schoolers might work with congress. >> maybe we need to bring the teachers up... ( laughter ) you know, every once in a while have some quiet time. time out. ( laughter ) >> sreenivasan: if the sequester takes effect, it will mean $85 billion in spending reductions over the next seven months shared equally between defense and domestic progr

but, you know, foreign nations and people in the pentagon can count votes too. we've never had a defense secretary with this many opposing votes. now this is something he can shake off, but it's going to take some time. >> woodruff: that's right. i mean he has the fewest confirming volts of any defense secretary since the job was created. mark thompson, how does that affect his ability to do his job? >> well, it will depend. it will affect it in a big way if he acts as he did in his con for megs hearing which by all accounts he did not do well. conversely, i talked to people in the pentagon. the lower in ranks you go, the more they like this guy. the more they like the sense that an enlisted man is going to run the building. if you can use that as a springboard he's facing immense challenges from sequestration to afghanistan to a nuclear iran but it's an opportunity for him to seize the moment. if he does, people will forget this pretty quickly i think. >> woodruff: what about the sour relations or whatever lingering effect there is from this loud vote of no confidence from repub

pentagon choice. who's got it about america, him or them? back on march. market on a tear, way up at 14,000. but that schedule add cross-the-board spending cut that seems unthinkable is now assumed. seriously, are we looking at first of march calamity? finally, guns and race. half of white men in america own guns. do you believe it? barack obama lost two-thirds of white men who didn't go to college, first wipeout since walter mondale lost 49 states to 1. can the president ever crack through that? hi, i'm chris matthews. welcome to the show. with us today presidential historian michael beschloss. cook political report amy walter. "the washington post's" henderson and "the new york times"'s david henderhard. have the republicans turn turned up the heat on barack obama now even before he won re-election? we saw in there temporary the defeat of chuck hagel's nomination, leaving the president without a pentagon secretary and there seems to be more where that came from. we decide to look at how this past tuesday, state of the union day played out starting with valerie jarrett on "morning j

the pentagon. as gop senators demand more answers about the benghazi terror attack, white house charges they are playing politics with national security. we talk with the man leading the call for more information, senator lindsey graham. his tee party response to the state of the union speech was critical to both the president and the gop. we will ask senator rand paul what he thinks of the obama agenda as well as republican policy. also, it is less than two weeks until big automatic spending cuts kick in. we will ask the sunday panel will congress will reach a deal before the sequester deadline. and outraged our power player of the week helps the senate make history by keeping track of history. all right now on "fox news sunday." >> chris: and hello again from fox news in washington. senate republicans made history this week, blocking a nominee for defense is secretary for the first time ever. they are demanding more information about the nominee former senator chuck hagel and about the benghazi terror attack. joining me now one of the senators leading the charge, republican li

president's pentagon choice finds hit -- his worst enemies in his own party. covering the week, david wessel of "the wall street journal." vaughn johnson of national joran. kirn tumulty of the national post and doyle mcmanus of the national times. >> award-winning reporting and nanls -- analysis, covering history as it happens. live in our nation's capital, this is "washington week with gwen ifill and national journal." corporate funding for "washington week" is provided by -- >> this rock has never stood still. since 1875 we've been there for our clients through good times and bad. when their needs changed we were there to meet them. through the years from insurance to investment management from real estate to retirement solutions, we've developed new ideas for the financial challenges ahead. ro his tck has never stoodhi still, and that's one thing that will never change. prudential. >> additional corporate funding for "washington week" is provided by boeing. additional funding is provided by the annenberg foundation, the corporation for public broadcasting and by contribution

defense. >> it's time to set aside this partisanship. the pentagon needs a seasoned leader to implement cuts. u.n. the 12 days since the filibuster not one single thing has changed. not one. yet republicans had to have their filibuster for make their pointless partisan point. they are children. the president's pick for treasury secretary will have a he'dier time. approved the nomination of jacob lew. the vote after a three-hour confirmation hearing with he was pressed just a little bit about working sat citigroup after the financial collapse. unlike the manufactured crisis of bengahzi neither republicans nor democrats have made a national issue about the shaky investments, bailouts that lew has seen. we're more squinting after the smallest sign of progress on the sequester. the the white house and the congress have until wednesday night to avert the cross the board cuts. to highlight those cuts president obama went to newport news shipbuilding but it's dependent on military spending that is due to be slashed this friday. >> obama: the reason why we're even thinking about the s

who he called, what he did, only talked about pentagon, defense secretary, once, that he never called anybody in libya, and, are you also surprised -- i'm not saying -- i'm astonished, the administration refused to give congress the fbi interviews with the survivors of benghazi. >> those are good questions and are always unanswered in questions like this but the hagel confirmation is not the forum to get that kind of information. there is another dimension here and that is, what are democratic senators really thinking about the hagel nomination? i understand some of them actually called the white house and said, is hagel going to withdraw? would he consider withdrawing, the answer is an emphatic "no" and, remember, john erlichmen, nixon's aide used to talk about twisting slowly in the wind and the factor here is time and there is this twisting in the wind aura to all of this, and i wonder whether the democrats are kind of looking and asking what really is the fundamental question here, is he the best person to be secretary of defense? >> chris: all right. we have to take a brea

your sunshine. don't go away. >>> right now, the pentagon has grounded its entire pleat of brand new f-35 fighter jets because of a cracked engine blade. the crack eed blade was found during a routine inspection. pentagon officials ordered all 64 jets from the air force, navy, and marine corps grounded until they figure out the cause of the problem. a spokesman for the company that makes the jets says none of the other f-35s have cracks. >>> if you have a plane to catch in the next few week, the sequestration showdown could have an impact on you. we're looking live at capitol hill where lawmakers will return monday. if nothing gets done, transportation officials say furloughs would be likely for tsa agents and air traffic controllers. the national zoo might have to make tough decisions as well if a budget deal isn't reached. it's facing major cuts as part of the sequester, but how much is still up in the air. megan mcgrath has more. >> reporter: it's not typically what comes to mind when you think about federal agencies, but as part of the smithsonian institution, the national zoo de

abcnews.com/thisweek and now good news to report for the third week in a row the pentagon released no names of service members killed in afghanistan. but there was a reminder of service and sacrifice of our soldiers there on monday president obama awarded the medal of honor to army veteran clint romesha whose son told a bit of the spotlight before the ceremony began. romesha fought back tears as he was presented with the award for leading a charge against taliban fighters who attacked a small outpost in 2009. eight americans died in that battle. we honor the service of romesha and all of those soldiers. and finally, your voice this week, the question comes from yasin who asks "where can i rewatch your programs can." thank you for watching. evi episode issal variable at our website, abcnews.com/thisweek or check out our web only interviews like this morning newt gingrich will be sticking around to answer your questions much that's all for us today. thank you for sharing part of your sunday with us. check out with"world news with d muir" tonight. george will be back next week and we hope you

--www.ncicap.org-- >> sequestration. march 1st is the deadline. a pentagon warns 800,000 employees will have to and federalleave cut inrs will taka 20% for six months. flying will be a little tougher. long lines at the airport, avel delays. wt to be careful what you eat. food safety inspectors will be effected. fbi and other law enforcent will ta a hit. salary for members of congress is safe. they say nonone of this was to happen. >> it was never meant to become unimplemented policy. they face a simple choice. they willing to compromise, protectct vital investments in education, health care, national curity, and all the jobs that depend on them? would rather put hundreds of jobs and our economy at risk to protect a few tax loopholesst benefit the biggest corporatns and wealthy americans? that's the choice. the sequeration was nev as jayo be implemented, carney says, why wasn't implend? the president is the one guy all this andabove he's just playing politics. >> are we having fun yet? we are not. is a sense off sleepwalking towards march 1st. republicans are making a serious political mistake t

pentagon is planning a range of defensive measures including a massive expansion of its own signer security force. joining me to discuss the developing background is david sanger of the "new york times." he cowrote today's front page story on the subject. joining us later is dune lawrence of bloomberg businessweek if and michael riley of bloomberg. they are learning everything they could. >> so far it's clear they've been into those systems it's not clear they've ever done anything to them. >> rose: why -- >> that's the remarkable question charlie. always the issue is intent and the degree to which the political leadership in china actually is knowledgeable about this and to what degree of control it has over it. because chinese command and control is not always what we image it from afar. in this case, unit 61398 which is the major cyber intelligence unit for the pla but not their own cyber operation. sort of their equivalent of the national security agency or our cyber command which is located at the national security agency in fort mead. >> rose: carmen alexander, is it. >> that

and efficiencies, but also looking at the current situation with spending within the pentagon and making sure that our leaders there have the ability to make sure that they meet this nation's priority in making those spending decision. i appreciate the opportunity to coming -- to come before you. we look forward to taking your questions. >> can you clarify, does it completely remove defense? >> it would. sequestration has two primary components that we dislike. one is the severity of the cuts in national defense and the second is the arbitrary way in which it doesn't. what we are basically saying is we ought to at least agree on the national security defense and we do not want to do anything that would jeopardize that. this bill is in a simplistic form that everyone can expand -- can understand, that sequestration would not be good for national defense. adjusting the numbers anywhere they wanted to, but it would basically say that we are not going to use this kind of arbitrary approach when it comes to national defense. >> we tend to be hearing two messages from republicans. one i

? national security correspondent jennifer griffin is at the pentagon tonight. >> for the past 19 year 12 yeare u.s. held asymmetric advantage over the enemies with unmanned aerial surveillance. for first time, the u.s. agreed to sell predators to allies in the middle east. uae, defense official announced the deal at the larmest arms exposition. sources close to deal confirm the uae agreed to buy $1.4 billion in u.s. weapons including $200 million in unarmed predator drones. about 20 remotely piloted aircraft from the jep atomic aeronautical system. the predators would be modified and unarmed but there is no way to be sure they would remain that way. >> people are pretty innovative in terms of being able to modify aircraft so they could be armed. so it's certainly not fool-proof. >> the former u.s. air force deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance is not opposed to deal because it gives those in the gulf greater advantage over the me is especially as the concerns rise above iran. >> we have a particular asymmetric advantage with remotely aircraft an

time next year. white house and pentagon officials confirmed it today. the decision marks the next phase in the administration's plan to end the u.s. combat role in afghanistan by 2014. there are currently 66,000 american troops in afghanistan, down from a peak of 100,000. a sharply divided senate armed services committee moved today to approve chuck hagel for defense secretary. the party line vote on the former senator was 14-11. his fellow republicans challenged hagel's past statements and votes on israel, iraq and iran's nuclear weapons program, while democrats argued hagel was more than qualified. >> i just believe that the testimony of senator hagel was not reassuring. i don't think he did come across clear and convincing, that he understood our policies toward iran. and the fact that you don't understand why and you can't clearly articulate the bad news for america for the iranians' nuclear capability sharply and to the point is unnerving and for the times in which we live. >> the concern that i have is the suggestion that this man who has served his country really since he w

. a lot of sources in the pentagon and he just wrote this about chuck hagel, quote, his big problem is that tho one much wants him running the pentagon. the prospect is a real problem now because the next secretary of defense will need to work with congress to reduce the defense budget and work with the military to reshape it to make it relevant for future conflict. at the moment, he appears to lack the political capital and the intellect yul appetite to do the latter. do you think chuck hagel can run the pentagon? >> my inclination has been to give the president the prerogative of deciding who's in his cabinet. i voted for john kerry although i don't agree with much he represents as far as a u.s. senator, but i think he's an honest person and i think the president has the right to decide. with regard to hagel, my first inclination was to give him the benefit of the doubt. i'm for auditing the pentagon. i think there is waste to be found. he's a soldier. served honor bly. i'm starting to have doubts and they are that if you going to run department of defense, you need to reveal if y

happens and we lose a lot of pentagon jobs. a lot of people out of work. stop by and stores closed, supporting organizations and some contractors are out of work. who gets blamed, president or republicans in congress? >> in the end i think the president. we americans under this habit of thinking i think the presidents have too much -- deserve too much for a good economy and too much blame for a bad economy. what a president does is pretty important but not as important as sometimes other factors. chris: if we have a shutdown or second recession or something like it, double dip, who gets hurt? >> republicans believe your theory, michael, it's the president. the buck stops with him. fundamentally -- >> chris: he's the one scared of this sequester more than anybody it seems. >> but at the same time they also know this is a republican party with the 24% approval rating going against a president with the 50-something percent approval rating. when it's the battle of the bully pulpit versus people with a 24% approval rating, bully pulpit can be very effective. chris: can i ask you a quest

effect. pentagon needs a seasoned leader to implement the cuts. >> $46 billion in cuts to military spending over the next seven months. hundreds of thousands of civilians could temporarily lose their jobs. the pentagon says it needs chuck hagel as soon as possible. >> this is a ridiculous way to run a budget show. we have been shouting at from the rooftops for a very long time. >> he will be sworn in as defense secretary wednesday morning. he is not getting much -- he will go from being the subject of intense congressional discussion and debate to trying to influence them. >> i want to make you aware of the developing story out of afghanistan. gov. has confirmed that 11 police officers and six civilians were killed at a checkpoint overnight. police launched an investigation and have detained two men who they say poisoned the people at the checkpoint. that story just breaking. we are looking into>> pope benes concluded his final appearance in st. peter's square as the roman catholic pope. 50,000 people crammed into the square. he is the first pope in 600 years to resign. a two-day s

teachers, and cuts at the pentagon that officials say could hurt national security. still, the white house and republicans remained lock in a stalemate over how to deal with the sequester. yesterday, president obama called john boehner and mitchell mcconnell, but neither republican leader has any appetite for new taxes, something the president says should be part of the deal. the president spoke with reverend al sharpton yesterday. >> my sense is that their basic view is that nothing is important enough to raise taxes on wealthy individuals or corporations, and they would prefer to see these kinds of cuts that could slow down our recovery over closing tax loophol loopholes. and that's the thing that binds their party together at this point. this is a major argument, obviously, we've been having for the last three years. unfortunately, i think republicans right now have been so dug in on this notion of never raising taxes that it becomes difficult for them to see an obvious answer right in front of them. >> of course, you have to take the battle to twitter. the showdown continued online wit

the president wants to run the pentagon. former republican senator and decorated vietnam combat veteran, chuck hagel, already under fire before today. he got a rough treatment at today's hearing. kelly o'donnell is on the hill tonight with details. kelly, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. tough questions were expected, but the real surprise today came in how chuck hagel handled the all-day scrutiny. at times appearing unprepared or off his game. and that's after hagel had dozens of personal meetings with senators, trying to win their support to become the next secretary of defense. >> right up the stairs, sir. >> reporter: chuck hagel would break new ground as the first enlisted man, first vietnam veteran, to run the pentagon. and first cabinet nominee to get the super pac treatment. tv ads against his confirmation. >> chuck hagel is not a responsible option. >> reporter: but it was hagel's former colleagues and even friends who waged a coordinated attack today on hagel's judgment. john mccain seized on hagel's vocal opposition to the surge of troops in iraq in 200

going to be the head of the pentagon. well it raises questions on shows like this but it will not affect --. >>chris: it would not raise a question in your mind? >>guest: he because not as crisp as he might have been but he misspoke it wasn't as if he projected a real difference on policy with the administration. what matters is how he performs as secretary of state. behalf nature set the bar high and i think chuck hagel will clear that bar. >>chris: laura, during his testimony he did not seem to know or think much about major issues of the pentagon or funding and he calls the iranian government elected? >>guest: the russians and chinese were it will watching how this played out because bill kristol was right saying it was not second rate performance it could have been the worst performance that ever took place at a confirmation hearing and that is saying something. as the secretary of defense it should not be that you won two purple hearts in battle. his patriotism is not questioned. merit should count. he is going to have to stand up against american military that will be cut ba

pentagon. 10,000 teachers could be laid off. a reduction of boarder agents. longer waits on airport security lines. hold a meeting tuesday to outline what the cuts could do to their respective counties. chuck hagel's nomination remains up in the air. republicans delayed a confirmation vote. questioned how the white house questioned the deadly attack which had nothing to do with chuck hagel. even though he does not think hage l is qualified, he will be confirmed. another vote expected after con-- >>> several gun and ammunition companies are threatening to leave if new strict laws are put into place. a ban of magazines that include more than 15 rounds. a gun tax on all purchases. a ban on private sale of firearms and instituting you know vicious al background checks. >> over 200 jobs in assembly shipping design and headquarters facilities. and 400 or even more in our supplier's subcontractors throughout colorado. >> final action on all four measures are expected in the colorado state house today. supported by vice president joe biden. >>> a news alert tonight. on the scene of a police

would be pentagon comptroller robert hale taking it in stride. he said when i walk down the hall, they still wave, but with fewer fingers. and that's "hardball" for now. coming up next, "your business" with j.j. ramberg. alec, for this mission i upgraded your smart phone. ♪ right. but the most important feature of all is... the capital one purchase eraser.

800,000 defense department layoffs that will happen as a result. that would be pentagon comptroller robert heale taking it in stride. he said when i walk down the hall, they still wave, but with fewer fingers. >>> that's it for "hardball." coming up next, "your business with j.j. ramberg." n can replen. that's healthy skin for life. only from aveeno. i got your campbell's chunky soup. mom? who's mom? i'm the giants mascot. the giants don't have a mascot! ohhh! eat up! new jammin jerk chicken soup has tasty pieces of chicken with rice and beans. hmmm. for giant hunger! thanks mom! see ya! whoaa...oops! mom? i'm ok. grandma? hi sweetie! she operates the head. [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. it fills you up right.

plays politics with the pentagon. senate republicans are blocking at least temporarily the nomination of chuck ha goal to be secretary of defense. first time that a defense secretary nominee has needed to clear 60 votes. it will further strain partisan. >> my expectation and my hope is that chuck ha goal who richly deserves to get a vote on the floor on the gnat, will be con first as our defense secretary. this kind of politics, it's unfortunate, intrudes when i'm still presiding over a war in afghanistan. >> there are still questions outstanding. i believe that senators have the right to have those questions answered. >> some senators said they want to examine information regarding the u.s. consulate attack in benghazi. majority harry reid plans to bring it up at the end of the month. >>> president obama again defended his administration's use of drones in the wear on terror. he did admit that the public should know about how the program works. >> what i think is absolutely true is that it's not sufficient for citizens to just take my word for it that we're doing the right

should the sequester stand. >> i so badly want to cut all of the fat out of the pentagon that i'm willing to do this. we are never again going to get to cut the pentagon back. the pentagon hasn't had any significant cuts for 30 years. >> josh green, is that the political equivalent of a liger, a lion and tiger combined to make an animal we have never seen before. rand paul and howard dean agreeing that the sequester should go through because, hey, defense -- >> hadn't occurred to me in quite those terms, but, yes, i suppose it could be a liger. >> there have always been contingent of liberal democrats that have wanted to go after the pentagon because its budget has grown enormously since 9/11. what you haven't had is a kind of republican analog. there have been a few people here, walter jones, congressman in north carolina, ron paul, in fact, was a big advocate of this, but only in the last couple of years, and really only in the last 18 months since the sequester cuts have loomed have you seen this tension between small government anti-tax republicans and pro-defense republicans.

going to make them look solvent. >> at one pentagon official says, "it really scares the hell out of meat." does it scare you? >> we are not greece, but you can get to be them with silliness like this and no responsibility. evan is right. the president is leading, but not in the direction that he wants. he is leaving to blame the republicans, which i suspect he will succeed in. the republicans seem to have this affinity for suicide diving. they will get blamed. the only answer here is to get together and obama thinks he has them on the ropes. republicans cannot seem to get it together. >> we just heard dr. rand paul said the sequestration was the president's idea. wasn't it? >> who cares. it's a bad idea on both sides. and the the president's responsibility. this is typical washington. it is the president's responsibility more than anyone else's, particularly a second term president. it's his responsibility to rise above this. he's not doing it. >> i'm not sure you something. this was the cover of "the new york daily news." the speaker of the house complain that he had to exit air fo

federal agencies including the pentagon are said to hit on march 1st. later that month, a major funding bill expires. the debt ceiling fight will resurface in the summer. >>> new polls showing the nra's opposition to reforming certain gun laws isn't registering with the american public. according to polling, more than 90% of voters in three states say they support wider background checks for people buying weapons at gun shows. that includes voters who live in households with a gun. when it comes to the question of armed police in schools, more voters in virginia, new jersey, and pennsylvania support the idea than oppose it. the board of education in new it is town, connecticut, is requesting funding for armed police officers in four elementary schools for the next school year. in chicago, meanwhile, mayor rahm emanuel is moving 200 officers from desk duty to the streets amid the city's most violent months in decades. 42 people have been murdered this year including 15-year-old who was shot dead this week while hanging out with friends in a park. >> when any young person in our c

defense department layoffs as a result. that would be pentagon comptroller robert hale taking it in stride. he said when i walk down the hall, they still wave, but with fewer fingers. and that's "hardball" for now. coming up next, "your business" with j.j. ramberg. alec, for this mission i upgraded your smart phone. ♪ right. but the most important feature of all is... the capital one purchase eraser. i can redeem the double miles i earned with my venture card to erase recent travel purchases. and with a few clicks, this mission never happened. uh, what's this button do? [ electricity zaps ] ♪ you requested backup? yes. yes i did. what's in your wallet? to prove febreze can keep this car fresh, we loaded it with fast food, sweaty hockey gear, and a smelly dog cage. and parked it at a mall. in texas. for two days. then put a febreze car vent clip on the dash and let in real people. it smells good. like laundry fresh out of like the dryer. yeah. a man fresh out of the shower. nailed it. oh yeah. proof. febreze car vent clips keep your car fresh. another way febreze helps you breath

the senate. his serve and the defense policy board of the pentagon as co-chairman of the president's intelligence advisory board, not to mention all the things that have been said about his service in vietnam and his heroism as an enlisted man. so i think -- i understand that people disagree with his position on certain issues and therefore everybody has the right to vote in the way it they say, but the concern that i have is the suggestion that this man who has served his country really since he was a young man and it listed in vietnam is not qualified to be the secretary of defense, i think is just not accurate and reflects certainly a different understanding of his background and his experience that i have. so i intend to vote for him. think he will be an excellent secretary of defense, and the help of we will confirm of. >> thank you, senator. >> thank you, mr. chairman. it think the members of the committee. first, let me say up front that i think all of us deeply respect the senators service to his country in vietnam and service in this body. we know that there are always diffi